November 2016: The following trial is currently recruiting at several sites in the UK. Please see information about the trial below.

The GaPP2 trial

The GaPP2 trial is testing gabapentin in women with chronic pelvic pain. The GaPP2 researchers want to find out if gabapentin reduces chronic pelvic pain, if there are any side effects of the medicine and how it works.

Gabapentin is a drug that was developed to treat epilepsy, and is currently used to relieve neuropathic pain.

GaPP2 is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial:

Randomised: The women who take part will be given either the treatment medicine (gabapentin) or a placebo - a dummy drug that has no active ingredients. A computer makes the selection so it's completely random.

Double-blind The women in the trial won't be told whether they are taking the active medicine (gabapentin) or the placebo - and neither will their doctors. So both are "blinded" to this information.

Placebo-controlled Half of the women in the study will have the active medicine and half the placebo (they are called the control group). The medication that women receive will look exactly the same to them and their doctors, but a completely separate study group will keep a record of which women have gabapentin and which have the placebo.

If you might be interested in taking part in the GaPP2 trial, here's what you need to know

Who can take part

You may be eligible for the GaPP2 trial if you:

Are between 18-50 years

Have chronic pelvic pain of more than 3 months duration

Have had a laparoscopy that could not find the cause of your pain

Are using or willing to use effective contraception if necessary to avoid pregnancy

What the trial involves

We will collect information on pain, and physical and emotional wellbeing at the beginning of the study and after 12 weeks of treatment by questionnaire. Additionally, we will ask a subset of 50 women (recruited in Edinburgh) to have a scan to look at brain activity before and during treatment. We will analyse the brain scan findings to further understand how gabapentin works in women with chronic pelvic pain and possibly also other pain conditions.

For more information about the hospitals recruiting and how to get in touch, please visit the trial websiteIf you have any questions that are not medical or scientific and more about feelings or concerns about the trial, do contact us at info@pelvicpain.org.uk.